In a bid to find a globally agreed solution to concerns that patent hold-ups may reduce innovation and competition, ITU hosted a roundtable on 11 October.

Standards essential patents (SEPs) relate to technology essential for the implementation of a standard in which it is incorporated, and require the patent holder to make a commitment to license the patent under RAND (Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory) terms.

The high-level roundtable was attended by representatives of Apple, Nokia, Ericsson, Microsoft, Samsung, Research in Motion, Motorola Mobility and several other key industry players, as well as regulators, patent offices, government representatives, and experts in intellectual property law.

Many of the participants attended a meeting of the TSB Director’s Ad Hoc Group during the following two days. This meeting agreed a roadmap to address the main concerns in particular: the conditions under which companies that have made RAND commitments should be allowed to seek injunctions; and clarification of the meaning of the word "reasonable" in RAND.

The programme of the ITU event examining the patent wars dogging the ICT industry has been announced with all key players registered to attend.

Representatives from Apple, Nokia, Ericsson, Microsoft, Samsung, Research in Motion, Motorola Mobility and several other key industry players will join regulators, government representatives and experts in intellectual property law to discuss how to avoid harm to the industry from litigation stemming from the use of standards essential patents.

The full day event will kick-off with a welcome address from ITU Secretary General, Hamadoun I. Touré, followed by a keynote speech from a high-level expert and then perspectives from different competition authorities.

The second part of the day will ask key stakeholders to present views unique totheir different perspectives in a “360 view” format, meaning that speakers are allowed 360 seconds to present their ideas. The sectors represented are standards development organizations (SDOs); industry players; patent offices; and academic institutions.

After lunch, participants will engage in a World Café environment allowing all participants an opportunity to exchange ideas in an interactive format. Results from this session will be fed into the final roundtable discussions moderated by a key expert in the field, Robert Barr, Berkeley University.

The two morning sessions of the ITU Patent Roundtable will be broadcast online to accredited journalists. In order to create an atmosphere conducive to fruitful negotiations, the two afternoon sessions of the Roundtable will not be webcast, recorded or accessible to the press. The Roundtable’s attendees will be permitted to report the results of discussions through their various channels, providing they adhere to the Chatham House Rule (see below).

Conclusions and closing remarks will be given by Malcolm Johnson, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU.

Journalists wishing to learn the results of the discussions and negotiations are welcome to attend the ITU press conference, either in person or remotely, at the close of the event. For details of press participation please contact toby.johnson@itu.int.

Participants in the ITU Patent Roundtable, as well as non-participants, are invited and encouraged to submit written contributions to ITU concerning the issue of SEP litigation and RAND licensing commitments. Contributions should be submitted to the ITU no later than October 5, 2012 at tsbworkshops@itu.int. These contributions will be communicated to the participants and made available to the public on the ITU’s website, but will not be presented during the meeting.

Chatham house rule:

When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

Geneva, 6 July 2012 – In light of recent patent disputes that have caused shipments of goods to be impounded at docks and the worldwide increase in standard essential patent (SEP) litigation, ITU will host a high-level roundtable discussion between standards organizations, key industry players and government officials at ITU headquarters in Geneva, on 10 October 2012.

The ITU Patent Roundtable will address the worldwide surge in patent litigation and the growing lack of adherence to standards bodies’ existing patent policies. Topics include potential improvements to existing policy frameworks, entitlement to injunctive reliefs, and definitions of what constitutes a royalty base.

Discussions on the relevance of current arrangements based around reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) patent policies will be a key focus. RAND-based policies have thus far been an effective way of managing natural tensions between patent holders, standards implementers and end-users. However, the definition of what constitutes ‘reasonable’, and whether or not holders of SEPs are entitled to injunctive relief are now emerging as major points of contention.

ITU is organizing a roundtable on the effectiveness of RAND-based (reasonable and non-discriminatory) patent policies, 10 October 2012.

The ITU Patent Roundtable is being held in light of the recent worldwide increase in patent litigation, and possible lack of adherence to standards bodies’ existing IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) policies.

The event, which will be run using a World Café methodology, will provide a neutral venue for industry, standards bodies and regulators to exchange ideas that will guide future discussions on whether current patent policies and existing industry practices adequately respond to the needs of the various stakeholders. It will bring together standards bodies, industry players and government representatives from around the world aiming to find solutions to the key issues today affecting the ICT industry’s engagement with patents and standards.

One of the key aims of standardization is to enable the efficient ‘globalization’ of ICT products and solutions. IPR issues must be taken into consideration when developing standards, a process demanding a balance of varying stakeholder interests; such as those of patent holders, standards implementers and standards’ end-users. Additionally, SDOs frequently encounter copyright issues relating to the incorporation of software in standards.

Such patent and copyright issues are the subject of global debate, and the workshop is being convened to provide a forum for discussions relating to the inclusion of patented technology and software in standards. International experts from both the public and private sector will provide an overview of these issues and share their insights on the present nature of the issue and how it is likely to progress in the future.

Participation in the workshop is open to ITU Member States, Sector Members, Associates, Academia and to any individual from a country part of ITU’s membership. Fellowships are available upon request, please contact tsbworkshops@itu.int.

Geneva, 6 May 2011 — ITU and the EPO (European Patent Office) have signed an agreement in recognition of the need for standards makers to share information to help improve the quality of patents.

Standards are essential for the wide adoption of new technologies in the marketplace. However, there is potential for conflict between patents and standards when the implementation of the standard requires the use of technology protected by one or more patents.

The newly signed agreement will help create the right balance between the interests of all relevant stakeholders, including patent holders, implementers of the standards, and end-users while seeking to enable solutions to market-driven needs on a global basis.

The event, aimed at intellectual property specialists and
standards makers will discuss the inclusion of patented technology in standards
and the patent policy approaches to address this. International experts from
both the public and private sectors from around the world will help provide an
overview of the issues and share their insights on present and future
developments.

The exchange of ideas and experiences facilitated by this
workshop will provide valuable insight and input that can help to guide future
discussion of the related issues – both at the ITU and in other fora.

The event hosted by the IEEE-Standards Association (SA) in collaboration with the Tunisian Ministry of Communication Technologies will bring together leaders from industry, government and international standards organizations to share their insights on how local entities can participate in and optimize global standards and best practices to help close the digital divide.

An in-depth introduction to international standards activities and highlighting of the scope of the IEEE and its relationships with ITU and other standards bodies will be given. Through interactive presentations, the seminar will provide an overview of the issues being faced by today’s policy makers and industry leaders and provide real world examples of how standards are making a difference in emerging economies.

In addition to discussion of broadband access and infrastructure standards via presentations and case studies, challenges and opportunities for developing countries regarding intellectual property rights (IPR) and standardization will also be addressed.
For further information see here, or call the IEEE-SA Corporate Standards Office at +1 732 562 5342; E-mail cag-conference@ieee.org.

As
part of celebrations for the 50th anniversary of ITU-T, you
are invited to vote for the most influential standards work from ITU-T.

ITU
work is behind many of the worlds most prevalent information and communications
technologies. Choose here from our shortlist which
you think has best shaped the ICT world of today, or feel free to suggest your
own idea.

A draft ITU-T definition of the term 'open standards' has been
developed by ITU-T's group of experts on intellectual property rights (IPR). It's
deemed necessary to do this to avoid confusion given the various
different interpretations of the term. This way when 'open standards'
are referred to in discussion, it is clear exactly what is being talked
about - at least in ITU-T.

Following a meeting of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Ad Hoc Group ITU-T has issued guidelines on how ‘marks’ should be used in ITU-T Recommendations. The term ‘marks’ refers to trademarks, service marks and certification marks. The document will be available here.

At the same meeting the General Patent Statement and Declaration Form was updated to reflect the changes made in July (see previous e-Flash story).

The IPR ad hoc group met in Geneva, 11-12 March 2005 to discuss IPR matters relevant to standardization in ITU-T.

The revision of two patent declaration forms was completed the meeting: the General Patent Declaration form and the Patent Declaration form for common & twin texts with ISO/IEC. The updated texts now reflect changes agreed by the group at its July 2004 meeting.

The group also produced a new version of the Software Copyright Guidelines, whereby the second paragraph in section 2.3.1 was moved to a new paragraph following the section 2.3.

And in the "marks" front - i.e., trademarks, service marks and certification marks - the group agreed on a first version of Guidelines on how to use "marks" in ITU-T Recommendations.

The group also discussed on what might define an "Open Standard" from the perspective of standardization work in ITU, and the preliminary outcome was annexed to the meeting report. Even though it does not constitute an ITU-T definition, it may be useful to help progress the discussions elsewhere in ITU.

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